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Oxidative stress and mechanisms of cell death

Resources:

“Basic research into the molecular nature of oxidative stress is being translated into the development of natural product based activators of Nrf-2 to combat the effects of photo-oxidative stress.”- Donna Zhang and Georg Wondrak.

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Relevance to SWEHSC:

The unique exposure to UV radiation in the Southwest environment defines a population who would benefit greatly from chemopreventative measures, an objective embraced by NIEHS.

In the majority of cases where PARP hyperactivation contributes to cell death, it promotes the translocation of apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) from the mitochondria to the nucleus, causing DNA condensation and fragmentation, in an apparently caspase-independent fashion. However, Dr. Monks' group has recently shown that in HK-2 cells PARP-1 hyper-activation is not accompanied by the translocation of AIF from mitochondria to the nucleus, and that Ca2+ plays an important role in modulating PARP-dependent ROS-induced cell death.

The Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (P30 ES006694) is a Unit of the Center for Toxicology, at the College of Pharmacy, funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. We also acknowledge the people – past, present, and future – of the Tohono O'odham Nation, on whose traditional lands we study and work.